After an Afghan national was identified as the alleged shooter in an attack in Washington, D.C., that left one member of the National Guard dead and another critically injured, the Trump administration announced it is halting all asylum decisions. Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said the agency is pausing decisions “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” “The safety of the American people always comes first,” Edlow wrote on X.
The move follows President Trump’s pledge to sharply crack down on immigration from what he described as “third world” countries. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said he would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover” and urged “REVERSE MIGRATION” as a remedy. On social media and in remarks to reporters, he railed against immigrants from impoverished nations, accusing them of straining welfare systems and “preying” on citizens.
The administration has already pursued aggressive deportation policies, sending some immigrants back to their countries of origin and others to third countries that have agreed — sometimes for payment — to accept them. Recent moves included deporting Venezuelans to El Salvador, relocating migrants to Eswatini and South Sudan, and arrangements with Rwanda to receive deportees.
Edlow said he was directed to perform “a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” He did not specify which countries would be included. A June White House proclamation placed travel restrictions on 12 countries of concern, including several African nations facing conflict and terrorism such as Chad, Sudan and Somalia, and also listed Afghanistan; seven additional countries faced partial restrictions.
The Department of Homeland Security told CNN it had already halted all immigration requests from Afghanistan and was reviewing “all” asylum cases approved during the Biden administration. DHS did not respond to requests for additional comment.
The president’s latest crackdown was prompted by reporting that identified the suspected shooter as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who had worked with the CIA against the Taliban and was admitted to the U.S. in 2021 because of that service. In a Thanksgiving Day call with service members, Trump described the shooting as a terrorist act and called the shooter a “savage monster,” blaming the Biden administration both for Lakanwal’s entry and for broader failures in the immigration system.
Trump broadened his criticism beyond the alleged shooter, denouncing immigrants more generally as gang members, mentally ill, or formerly incarcerated. Asked whether he blamed all Afghans, he replied, “No, but there’s a lot of problems with Afghans.” He also returned to long-standing attacks on Somali immigrants, asserting — without linking them to the D.C. shooting — that Somali communities have caused trouble and describing “Somalian gangs” in Minnesota as “roving the streets looking for ‘prey.'”
U.N. officials criticized the administration’s planned sweeping halts to immigration seekers. “They are entitled to protection under international law, and that should be given due process,” U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said in Geneva.